Pre-Raphaelite Paintings: your impressions

Thank you, all, for generating ideas in class today regarding the visual artworks of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Using the content from the notes you jotted down, I have generated the following Wordle (click the link below). I think this collection of words and phrases summarizes some of the key motifs and preoccupations of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in an original, succint and effective way.

Unfortunately, the Wordle does not not fully reflect all of the content that you provided on your sheets. Hence some of the lengthier quasi-narratives and monologues that I received are not given their due by this Wordle.

Regardless, I enjoyed reading everyone's comments :)

Cheers,
Ada

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The Germ & the Band Perry

Hey, here’s some added information on the Pre-Raphaelite style of art, and some resources if anyone’s curious to know more!



Please keep in mind that the Pre-Raphaelites were not artists that existed before Raphael, but who were inspired by the style of art that was popular before his lifetime. They themselves lived after him, during the Victorian era. They were a gathering of male artists who wanted to revolutionize art by rejecting the popular neoclassical style of the time. They felt, according William Rossetti’s introduction to The Germ, that “this condition of the art seemed offensive, contemptible, and even scandalous” (Gutenberg) because of the absence of original, creative ideas that was a feature of neoclassical-inspired pieces. They chose to instead employ stylistic elements common in medieval artwork, specifically Gothic aesthetics, as it encouraged simplicity and originality. Finding solidarity in each other’s ideas, they founded the Brotherhood in September of 1848, and in the following year began to construct works that were based on this specific intention.



The Brotherhood also published a magazine-like periodical centered on prominent Pre-Raphaelite poems and essays of the time, as well as critical reflections of the artists themselves about these works, entitled “The Germ: Thoughts towards Nature in Poetry, Literature and Art”.



You can actually read a publication of some of the issues that was compiled by William Michael Rossetti and edited by his brother, Dante (both being members of the original Brotherhood), online on Project Gutenburg, if you’re curious - it’s very in-depth, with an extensive inclusion of poems from the same period and with the same themes as those we are studying. It even has an introduction from Rossetti discussing their intentions and the history of the Brotherhood’s formation in detail. It’s a very valuable source, and even more so as it’s straight from the horse’s mouth:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17649/17649-h/17649-h.htm



However, The Germ encompasses only text. If you want to see some of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings, rather than the poetry, here’s a site created by the Delaware Art Museum, with a handy overview outlining more of their main characteristics at http://www.preraph.org and a gallery featuring ten pieces of PRB art located in their own collection: http://www.preraph.org/gallery/ It can give you a very good idea of what the ideas actually looked like when translated onto canvas.



In a more contemporary vein, we also found this music video that was made by The Band Perry for their song ‘If I Die Young’. It actually works as a modern revisioning of The Lady of Shalott, and you can see that it reflects and makes use of a lot of the same tropes as the original poem (and many of the characteristics inspired by Pre-Raphaelite art) - the heavy natural imagery, the emphasis on the female form and female beauty, the role of the river, the interplay of themes of death, sight and innocence, and the act of drawing from literary sources from information.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NJqUN9TClM



Enjoy!



Jillian, Jarrett & Thuraya



References:

The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Concise Edition Vol. B. Ed. Don LePan. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2008. 519-21.

"The Germ". Project Gutenberg.January 2006. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17649/17649-h/17649-h.htm. Web.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Hey, so Maddy and I did some research on the Pre-Raphaelites and this is what we came up with! Hope this helps clear anything up that might not have been clear in the presentation!

The Pre-Raphaelites began with the initial group of seven (James Collinson, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Frederic George Stephens, and Thomas Woolner) who formed the group in 1848 that strove to revive what they believed was a “simpler, fresher, more natural art that existed before Raphael (1483-1520)” (Broadview Anthology). One of the most focal mediums for the group was painting, as it was the best way to present their “pre-Raphaelite” vision of simplicity and freshness. Eventually, more poets became involved in the P.R.B., and they started going off of one another, most commonly painting portraits of the poems that others wrote. Most notable of this is the poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which was emulated by numerous different painters including John William Waterhouse, William Holman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The art of the P.R.B., particularly its representation of women, was aptly analyzed and documented by Jan Marsh in her illustrated book, Pre-Raphaelite Women: Images of Femininity (1987). As she points out, consistent features of these women – including the Lady of Shalott – are loose hair, large eyes, an elongated neck, and a sorrowful expression (Marsh). She also posits that the group “established new structures of feeling and of representation whereby women were both elevated and constrained, worshipped and restricted to specific roles” (Marsh). The Lady of Shalott’s motif of confinement seemed to be the focal point for the painters in spite of protests from Tennyson himself that the poem was a metaphor for one who lives in a world of shadows and is transformed through love into the world of what is real (Marsh).

To give you guys some context, we thought we’d link you to a couple websites that show the art of Raphael as well as the Pre-Raphaelites so you can decide for yourselves if they achieved their goal of being more simple, fresh, and natural!

Links:

P.R.B.

http://persephone.cps.unizar.es/~spd/Pre-Raphaelites/Pre-Raphaelites.html

Raphael

http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a110/raphael-posters_p6.htm

References:

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Concise Edition Vol. B. Ed. Don LePan. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2008.

Marsh, Jan. Pre-Raphaelite Women: Images of Femininity. New York: Harmony Books, 1987.

Evangelism

Hey Everyone!

If you've already read the post below mine, then you're good to read this one! If not, read that first then mine! :)

Jane Eyre is a novel that is loaded with Evangelism, from Brocklehurst to St. John. One aspect of this is the obvious religious Evangelism, which emitted by both Brocklehurst and St. John, preaching to those the word of God. However what I want to focus on is Charlotte Bronte's less obvious form of Evangelism. In the beginning of the novel, Jane struggles with whether or not she believes in God, and hell and heaven, or if she even likes what the bible tells her. But as the story progresses we as readers see her offer her thanks up to God numerous times. One has to wonder what had changed. If Brocklehurst curriculum had influenced her, or if she herself decided she is a believer. On page 447 in the text Jane narrates, "I was sure St. John Rivers -- pure-lived, conscientious, zealous as he was -- had not yet found that peace of God which passeth all understanding: he no more found it, I thought, than had I; with my concealed and racking regrets for my broken idol and lost elysium -- regrets to which I have latterly avoided referring; but which possessed me and tyrannized over me ruthlessly." This exert indicates that at this point Jane still is not sure of her feelings toward God, that she doesn't fully understand him yet. This is interesting to note because Christians do not necessarily understand what God does, or why he does it, but they respect his power, something it seems Jane does not understand.

In addition to the above which were my own thoughts of Evangelism in the novel I found this website which focus on this topic as well. If you'd like to research this more, click below! :)

http://hubpages.com/hub/Jane-Eyre-the-Child-Breaking-the-Rules

Also, this youtube clip from the movie Jane Eyre, shows the scene when Jane first meets Brocklehurst and his extreme evangelistic perspective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XsB22Qjz3A

Thanks everyone!

Paige

Evangelicalism in Application to Jane Eyre

Evangelicalism Part 2: Application to Jane Eyre

In continuation to this presentation I will be discussing evangelicalism’s application to Jane Eyre. One of the more prominent examples of Evangelicalism can be found in chapter 4 of the novel. This is the scene in which the reader is first introduced with Mr. Brocklehurst, and within the first few moments of conversation with Jane he asks; “no sight so sad as that of a naughty child, especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?” (39), in which Jane replies; “they go to hell […] a pit full of fire” (39). Mr. Brocklehurst then continues on in his questioning of Jane by asking “what she must do in order to avoid going to hell”, in which she responds that “ she must keep in good health and not die” (39). He is appalled by Jane’s answer and continues interrogating her with questions of if she prays every day and whether or not she reads the Bible (40). This can then be viewed as an example of evangelicalism as Jane clearly does not follow the practices of Mr. Brocklehurst who can be viewed as a more main stream religious character, and as Sarah mentioned before ‘Evangelicalism is a sect of Christianity that follows the gospels and their teachings and puts more emphasis on an individual’s personal relationship with God, and not on their Church attendance. For Evangelicals, the Gospels were the most important part of learning religion’. Jane enjoys the books of Revelations, Daniel, Genesis, Samuel, Exodus, Kings, Chronicles, Job, and Jonah (40). However because she doesn’t enjoy the book of Psalms, as Mr. Brocklehurst does she is said to “have a wicked heart, and she must pray to God to change it and give her a new and clean one to take away her heart of stone and give her a heart of flesh” (40). Mr. Brocklehurst can then be viewed as a more Anglican religious follower in which he is more concerned with church attendance and giving more focus to what he is told to enjoy, opposed to what he finds more enjoyable about his own religion. Jane, with a more evangelical approach to religion builds a more personal relationship with her God and her religion as she pays more attention to the Gospels in which she most enjoys in the Bible regardless of the Gospels she is told to like or dislike.
A second example of Evangelicalism within “Jane Eyre” is Lowood School itself. As Evangelicalism is concerned with being humble, and as Sarah mentioned earlier, “it stresses the importance of conversion, of missionary work, and of humanitarian activism” Lowood School itself is a charitable institution, this can be found in chapter 5 in which Jane is acquainted with Helen Burns and they discuss how Lowood School operates. Helen tells Jane why the girls are called ‘charity children’ (60); “all the girls here have lost either one of both parents, and this is called an Institution for educating orphans […] we pay or our friends pay, fifteen pounds a year for each […] because fifteen pounds is not enough for board and teaching, and the deficiency is supplied by subscription […] from benevolent-minded ladies and gentlemen in this neighbourhood and London” (60). Therefore this can then also be seen as an example of evangelicalism as it demonstrates the humility within the community as well as humanitarian acts of kindness.

Bronte, Charolette . Jane Eyre. London: Penguin Classics, 2006. Print.

Governess Movies

Thanks everyone for some great discussion today regarding Jane Eyre and the socio-historical contexts of Bronte's novel. Our consideration of governesses and the place of women in Victorian Britain got me thinking about representations of governesses in cinema. Hollywood has certainly interpreted the governess narrative and, in particular, Jane Eyre's character in a number of ways.

Minnie Driver is a seductive re-envisioning of Jane Eyre in Sandra Goldbacher's 1998 film, The Governess. Set in Scotland in the 1840s, this film is sensually seductive, too, with its rich fabrics, rustling fabrics, and evocative sets. This film also explores the dynamics of gender and looking - Driver's governess is an early photographer and she quite literally wields the gaze by the film's conclusion.

Meanwhile, Deborah Kerr played her share of governess roles on the silver screen. She portrays Anna Leonowens in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I (1956), teaching English to the children of the King of Siam (aka Thailand) in a colonial paradise of palaces and proper British accents. Kerr's hoop dresses in this film are FABULOUS and certainly a far cry from Jane's black silk. Kerr's dresses move, shine, flounce, fold . . . I think I'm in love. The costume designers on this film must have had a ball.

In 1961, Kerr starred as the hysterical (is she crazy or not?) governess in The Innocents, a psychological horror film with some pretty creepy little kids. This film interrogates the Victorian governess as a psychological subject, and uses the machinery of the Gothic (spirits, dark mansion, long hallways) to cast doubt on the sanity of its protagonist.

And I cannot wait to see what the latest Hollywood version makes of Bronte's text: March 11, 2011 marks the theatre debut of Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre.

Womens Place in Victorian Society

Hey guys!
I'm partnered with Stephanie, who is two posts down. We broke it down so I am relating everything to Jane Eyre. I found as i was reading Jane Eyre I noticed the treatment of women throughout the whole novel.

When Jane Eyre was first introduced to the Lowood Institution she noticed a scripture that was engraved above the door. This scripture told the young girls that were a part of this institution to, “ ‘Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven’-- St. Matt. V.16,” (Bronte 109). The fact that this scripture was one of the first things that stood out to Jane upon reaching Lowood is important to notice, because it is essentially telling these girls that they are living their lives for the men that surround them; that they must work to please these men. This notion of men’s superiority over women and women’s need to serve men is continued on throughout Jane’s time at Lowood. It is seen again as Mr. Brocklehurst visits the Institution and insists that all the children’s hair must be cut off. He tells Miss Temple, “ ‘Madam,’ he pursued, “I have a Master to serve whose kingdom is not of this world: my mission is to mortify these girls the lusts of the flesh; to teach them to clothe themselves with shame-facedness and sobriety, not with braided hair and costly apparel; and each of the young persons before us had a string of hair twisted in plaits which vanity itself might have woven: these, I repeat, must be cut off,’” (127). Mr. Brocklehurst admits to the fact that he is trying to teach these young girls to be shameful of themselves, that they have no right to be pleased with themselves but must only yearn to please others.

Not only does Jane have to dress and do her hair to please men when she is at the Lowood Institution, but when she is in the presence of Mr. Rochester at Thornfield hall she also has to worry about her fashion. When Jane is first invited to join Mr. Rochester for tea she inquires Mrs. Fairfax if she should change her frock. Mrs. Fairfax replies by saying that whenever Mr. Rochester is around she dresses “for the evening,” so Jane replaces her black stuff dress with a black silk one, which was one of her best ones (189). This makes it clear that women in Victorian society were expected to dress to impress the men around them at all times, that they must always take time to look presentable.

As Jane grows up and moves from Lowood to Thornfield-Hall she begins to question the stereotypical qualities that have been forced upon her since she was a child. As readers, we rarely become aware of Jane’s feelings and what she is thinking, but finally she explains to us how she feels about these stereotypes that she has had to live up to. She explains that “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; the need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex,” (178). Jane understands that within Victorian society it is customary for women to get married or work as a governess, but she finds this hard to live with. She is frustrated by the fact that there are such different standards for her because she is a female, and wants the ability to live with the same amount of freedom that men do.

Hope this is helpful to everyone!

Sources
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press, 2004. Print.

Women's Place in Victorian Society

Women's Place in Victorian Society

In tomorrow's tutorial we will be talking about women's place in Victorian society. Much of the discussion will reference the reading material we have been assigned for this week's lecture including "Jane Eyre" and "The Broadview Anthology B."

Women in the Victorian period (roughly 1837-1900) had extremely limited rights and while drastic changes didn't take place until the 20th century, steps were being taken to ameliorate the position of women. An important and significant struggle for women was in regards to marriage law. During this time when a woman married, she was required to give up her identity and have it replaced by that of her husband's identity. Legally this meant that husband and wife were one person, i.e. the husband, and this left the wife terribly vulnerable. There was no legal help for women at this time either, if any woman should want to defend herself against her husband. A quote from Harriet Taylor Mill's essay entitled, "The Enfranchisement of Women" concisely asks, "whether it is right and expedient that one half of the human race should pass through life in a state of forced subordination to the other half."

In class we will be referring to parts of Sarah Stickney Ellis' book, "The Daughters of England: Their Position in Society, Character and Responsibilities." You can refer to certain passages in the class copy of "Jane Eyre" on page 600 or the "Broadview Anthology B" page 604. The link below can help in further understanding women's place in Victorian society, as it is Ellis' entire novel written in 1842. Chapter III is particularly interesting due to the fact that Ellis ran a young girls school named Rawdon House in Hertfordshire. This chapter is entitled "Cleverness-Leanring-Knowledge" and it is in this particular chapter that Ellis writes about what young ladies are expected to know as well as what they are not required to know (knowledge beyond "ordinary duty"). In the opening pages of the third chapter Ellis explains that, "to know how to do everything which can properly come within a women's sphere of duty, ought to be the ambition of every female mind." This quote suggests the amount of responsibility, even strength women had to assume and yet Ellis explains earlier on in her text that, "as women [...] the first thing of importance is to be content to be inferior to men-inferior in mental power, in the same proportion that [women] are inferior in bodily strength." The two quotes seem to offer opposing ideas of the ideal woman, both submissive and helpless while at the same time resourceful and determined. We can discuss this further as we talk about the texts tomorrow. Brittany will be discussing the role of women in reference to "Jane Eyre" in class tomorrow as well.

Until then we have a couple of links to suggest:
This site offers much information concerning the Victorian era, it offers background knowledge and it may help to contextualize some of the readings:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/women_home/ideals_womanhood_01.shtml

Sarah Stickney Ellis, "The Daughters of England: Their Position in Society, Character and Responsibilities" (1842):
http://books.google.ca/books?id=Q-0TAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=sarah+stickney+ellis+daughters+of+england&source=bl&ots=CIGqfoO7iO&sig=OwuHOdABRwdbXHdJW2SYZau-WvY&hI=en&ei=XeIXTbuHCoG3twe26qWZDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false



Sources:

Black, Joesph, Leonard Conolly, Kate Flint, Isobel Grundy, Don Lepan, Roy Luizza, Jerme J. McGann, Anne Lake Prescott, Barry V. Qualls, Claire Waters, eds. "The Politics of Gender." The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Concise Edition. Volume B. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2008. 506-508. Print.

Ellis, Sarah Stickney. "The Daughters of England: Their Position in Society, Character and Responsibilities. " The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Concise Edition. Volume B.
Peterborough, ON: Boradview Press, 2008. 604-606. Print

Ellis, Sarah Stickney. "The Dauhters of England: Their Position in Society, Character an Responsibilties." Google Books. Google. February 12, 2011.
http://books.google.ca (...)
(same site as above)

(Brief background information on Sarah Stickney Ellis was found on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Stickney_Ellis)

Women's Place in Victorian Society

Hey guys,
For my half of the presentation on “Women's Place in Victorian Society”, I am just going to be giving a brief summary of what life was like for women during the Victorian Period. I will be discussing politics relating to the rights of women, fashion, work, and I will provide some statistics and facts about these things. Jory has prepared references from Jane Eyre to share with you guys, to help you see how practices of the Victorian Period can be seen in a work of literature.
I found a short video on YouTube that may help you guys better understand what life was like for women during the Victorian Period. Basically, the main role of the woman was to get married and take care of her family. Women had very little independence during this time, and even less sense of purpose.
Here is the link to that video:
The Victorian Guide to Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO5AuYNWQGA
I also found this website which may help you understand what life was like for women during the Victorian Period compared to what life is like for women in today's society. I found it interesting to read about why women during the Victorian Period got married. There is also a short paragraph which outlines the “laws that helped women” during the time period.
Here is the link for the website mentioned above:
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femhist/marriage.shtml#Why%20Victorian%20women%20Married
Also, if you guys want to read more detailed information on the role of women in the Victorian Period, I would direct you to the BBC article written by Lynn Abrams entitled “Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain.” There are 9 'pages' of information on this website that are all very informative.
The link for that website is:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/women_home/ideals_womanhood_01.shtml
Lastly, I found an interactive website. It's a game located on the Musée McCord Museum's website. This is a museum located in Montréal with lots of pieces from the Victorian Period. In the game, you can choose to play the role of a man, or woman throughout the game. I recommend playing the role of the woman so that you can get a better understanding of what women were 'required' to do during the Victorian Period. You are given situations and asked to pick the best answer. For example, would you know what dress to wear if you were hosting a dinner party? The game is called “Mind Your Manners” and you can pick what location you want your questions to be based on (home, ballroom, park or train station).
Try it!
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/17
Thanks!
Stephanie

Jane Eyre and Governesses

Brought to you by: Carly Basch and Jessica Flanagan

Our topic for tomorrow's Tutorial discussion sheds light on the world of governesses and its relation to Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte. Governesses (not to be confused with Nannies) take on the role of educating children in a wealthy household. Their responsibilities reside only through educating the children, not taking care of them unlike a nanny would.

From last tutorial, we left off by viewing Child Abuse and Jane's experiences of child oppression during her years at the Reed's and Lowood School. This week we hope to bring some information about the role of the governess, its significance to Jane Eyre as well as Charlotte Bronte's involvement as a governess and how her personal influences help shape, inspire, sympathize and even romanticize the role of a governess through Jane's experiences. From about Chapters 11-26, we are able to take a look into Jane's role as a governess and will explore some of the events that occur that show examples that would show realism but as well as romanticism. Our edited Broadview Anthology version of Jane Eyre explores personal letters Charlotte had with her employees when she was a governess as well as article clips during the time that relate to the topic of 'being a good governess'. We found this piece of information to have a strong backbone and influence into the writings of Jane Eyre and we wish to explore them further and present information on them. Coming from periodicals at the time, these articles will bring in some of the social and political aspects that are drawn to societies' outlook of governesses at the time and how that is incorporated with the novel.

Jane Eyre is seen as a piece that strongly empathizes the female protagonist through out the book and there is no doubt that some of the events that do occur, romanticize women in a way that Jane Eyre is a strong, outspoken individual and is able to find love, despite her social class and position. For fun, we have included a blog site that shows a list of other great novels that include Governesses: http://booklistsforbookworms.blogspot.com/2010/07/fall-in-love-with-governess.html . The post is called "Fall in Love with the Governesses". As well with novels, governesses are well recognized in films. A more contemporary character is Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, but here is the trailer from the film The Governess starring actress, Minnie Driver. Take a look and see if you can make some comparisons/contrasts to what we are reading in Jane Eyre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o_nn5rCANg .

We look forward to expanding our knowledge with you, also at the end of the presentation we will be sharing a list of real-life governesses, which famous people they worked for and some of their significant impacts!

*External Sources used were:

"Fall in Love with the Governesses". Booklists for Bookworms on Blogspot.com. July 2010. http://booklistsforbookworms.blogspot.com/2010/07/fall-in-love-with-governess.html. Web.

The Governess. Dir. Sandra Goldbacher. Star. Minnie Driver and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Sony Pictures Classics, 1998. Film.

(website: Youtube.com was used to show the trailer)